PHIL 3195 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: False Dilemma, Mental Disorder, Legal Liability
8 Feb 2016
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Argues that the choice-character controversy rests on a false dichotomy. The choices conception of criminal liability understands persons as essentially free-willed rational individuals whose freedom allows them to make decisions. When we convict others it is based on the bad character of wrongdoing we are ultimately punished by our own actions. A minimal conception of choice: to choose to do x, is to choose to do it knowingly and not involuntarily. Knowledge: i choose to do (to take a risk of doing) x only if i know that my action will ( or might) amount to doing x (349) Duress: unlawful pressure exerted upon a person to coerce that person to perform an act that he or she ordinarily would not perform. The coerce person chooses to act as he did. First, actions done under duress or under the influence if a mental disorder are not really.
